Welcome back to my Unbelievable Real Life feature, where I showcase weird creatures and offbeat places on our planet that seem like they should belong in a fantasy or science fiction story. Today we’re going to the icy world of Lapland, Finland, to look at frozen alien worms.

I was generously granted permission from the photographer, Niccolo Bonfadini, to show you these images. If you want to see more of his spectacular photography, you can find it on his site atwww.niccolobonfadini.com.

Image Credit: Niccolo Bonfadini

Image Credit: Niccolo Bonfadini

The first time I saw these pictures, they made me think of frozen versions of the sand worm in Beetlejuice.

It turns out these are actually trees. In Lapland, the temperatures drop as low as -40 in the dead of winter. Ice and snow encase the trees and create these frozen aliens.

If you saw these figures while traipsing across the snowy plains and you didn’t know what they were, would you be brave enough to go find out?

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